The present invention relates to knowledge management, and more particularly to knowledge portals. It will be described with exemplary reference to an electronic information network of a business corporation. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not so limited, but rather will find application in many areas which utilize information creation, storage, and distribution.
With the ever-growing volume of information stored on electronic systems, the historical methods for information management are shifting toward an emphasis on knowledge management. Conventional information management systems index whole documents without directly addressing the document content. For example, a computer hard drive includes a folder tree or a directory tree, each branch of which contains lower-level folders and/or documents. In such a system, each document is placed at a single branch of the folder tree, even if the document is in fact closely related to two or more different branches. For example, a departmental monthly report typically includes information relating to a range of areas and projects in which that department is involved. Nevertheless, the entire report document is stored on a single branch of the folder tree. Of course, copies of the report are optionally placed elsewhere in the folder tree to enable convenient and intuitive access to the report from these other branches as well. However, such document duplication is undesirable because it wastes system storage resources and greatly complicates subsequent updating of the report. A typical result of such duplication is the generation of numerous copies of various versions of the report, and retrieval of dated or erroneous information therefrom.
The directory tree structure is typically manually created by a plurality of users, which in large corporate environments can number in the hundreds of users or more. As a result, the structural scheme and nomenclature (i.e., folder names and document names) created by one user is often completely non-intuitive for other users, or even for the creating user at a later date. This further complicates efficient and intuitive retrieval of information, and in practice limits retrieval to individuals with a good understanding of the structure of the directory system and its contents in the area of interest to the individual.
Knowledge management systems, sometimes called knowledge portals, provide a new way of organizing and accessing knowledge contained in documents. Knowledge portals use contextual searching, whereby relevant documents are easily located by the user following a heuristic search path of content-based links. When accessing knowledge and information using a knowledge portal, the user is not required to have a prior understanding of the folder tree structure in order to locate pertinent information. Rather, documents are linked contextually based upon the document content, thereby enabling heuristic searching by a user. This searching is implemented for example through a keyword search initiated by the user. The context of a given document is typically described in terms of the knowledge categories to which the document relates, and a given document is typically included under many different knowledge categories. For example, an article on the IBM Corporation can properly relate to a wide range of knowledge categories including: “IBM”, “general business”, “e-business”, “software”, “computers”, “state of New York”, “DB2”, and others. These various categories, in turn, have certain interrelationships. The categories of “computers” and “software” are very closely related, whereas “DB2” and “state of New York” are much less closely related.
Each of these categories, in turn, includes typically many other documents besides the aforementioned article on the IBM Corporation. For example, “general business” may include documents relating to other corporations and to the stock market, as well as including every document identified under the “e-business” category, which is a sub-category of the “general business” category. In this manner, the knowledge portal places a document into context with respect to other information stored and available on the electronic information system.
A typical knowledge portal includes a catalog of information, typically called an information catalog or a knowledge base, that relates to the contents of an associated collection of documents. The associated collection of documents are typically documents generated and stored in the electronic information system in the ordinary course of business operations (in the exemplary case of a corporate computer network) and can include word processing documents, image documents, electronic mail, spreadsheets, and the like. The scope of the knowledge portal optionally includes every document in the system. Alternatively, the scope includes only certain documents, e.g. only documents which are not restricted-access, or only documents relating to technology. The scope can also be expanded to catalog outside information such as selected Internet web pages. People can also be cataloged by a knowledge portal.
It will be appreciated that the conventional folder or directory tree-based information management system is typically not altered by the addition of a knowledge portal. Rather, the knowledge portal serves as an advanced user interface that provides an improved and more efficient and intuitive means for accessing the stored information.
The knowledge categories or classifications in the catalog are typically represented by knowledge objects (e.g., people, places, things) and their relationships to each other. Preferably, the catalog is automatically generated and maintained by analysis tools, such as a text analysis tool or a text parser. The text parser preferably analyzes every newly created document which falls within the scope of the knowledge portal, and extracts certain key words, sometimes called tokens. Based upon the tokens of a large number of documents, the cataloged objects are identified and interrelated. Each new document is contextually placed within the catalog classification system. As new documents are created, the catalog is updated through addition of new knowledge objects, and through new or changed interrelations between the objects. The catalog is also usually manually editable so that the knowledge portal can be tuned to more precisely meet the needs of its users.
Linkages or affiliations for individual people are typically established by analysis of the documents created or read by the individual, such analysis also being performed by the text analysis tool. A person's affiliations are typically editable at least by that person, and addition of new affiliations preferably requires approval of the individual or another authorized person, e.g. the person's manager.
A critical component of a knowledge portal is the user interface and the corresponding method by which the user is made aware of and accesses the related information. The prior art discloses knowledge maps, or K-maps, for identifying objects closely associated with a keyword search or with a current document. Prior art K-maps are typically a list of related documents and knowledge objects. In a typical prior art arrangement, for each related document or knowledge object the K-map displays a title or other descriptive text and a rating value which indicates how closely the object relates to the document. Upon selection of a document from such a K-map, the document is typically displayed in place of the K-map. In the case of a current document, a user typically requests a K-map relating to that document, and the K-map associated with the document is then constructed and displayed in place of the current document.
The prior art user interface and method therefor has several disadvantages. It typically does not allow for simultaneous viewing of a document and its associated K-map. This mutually exclusive displaying is extremely inconvenient when carrying out a heuristic search, as the user must constantly switch back and forth between the K-map view and the document view.
The prior art typically also does not permit previewing of related documents or of summary information pertaining thereto. Instead, the user must load the entire document and, if it turns out to be irrelevant, must subsequently reload the K-map.
The prior art methods typically require the user to enter keywords into a search dialog window to initiate a new search direction that is not explicitly shown on the K-map. In a typical scenario, a user will read a document and come across terms, phrases, words, or the like that appear interesting and possibly relevant to the topic under review. The user then has to either type the keywords into the search dialog window, or use cut-and-paste operations to transfer the keywords to the search dialog window. These operations are time consuming, and additionally introduce opportunities for user errors.
The present invention contemplates an improved knowledge portal user interface and method therefor, which overcomes these limitations and others.